Thursday, July 24, 2014

T-5hrs. Time minus five hours. In
five hours... I'm flying to Manila! The Philippines has this new thing
where a month before you leave, you have to appear in person to the visa office
place. SO, this is good for two great things: 1) I get to go to Manila!
2) Even better, I get to see all of my friends from the MTC there!
Remember how my mission split in July last year? Well, my MTC
companion and everyone else I new ended up in Naga mission so I haven't seen
them since then. Also, Tyler Kesler was on the list of people going as
well! I'm pretty sure that we're all sleeping at the same hotel tonight
(we go back tomorrow) so I'll try and find everyone. Should be fun!
More updates next week.

Next, new companion. Well, kinda.
President decided that we need to have another elder come in for training
before I leave. Guess who it is.... Elder Hatch! Don't you remember
(probably not) that we were already companions! We were together
for my one transfer in Pilar, I was his "follow up trainer" (AKA 2nd
companion in the field) and now here we are, companions again, but in a whole
new world. So fun! We're really excited.

We worked really hard this week.
Aaaaaand...you couldn't really see the "fruits" of our efforts
at church on Sunday. Sunday was one of those Sundays when you just expect
the entire world (investigators, less actives) to be there.... then, almost no
one comes. On one hand, it's sad because you love them and know what
they're missing out on, but on the other, you have to be happy knowing that you
did you best because we felt the Spirit so strongly in every lesson we taught
this week. Lots of journal entries.

Hope my email is short enough that you'll be
able to read it all without skimming too much. Love you!

Elder Shane Brown

Pictures -

1. Crazy, right?

2. Elders Yu, Hatch and I.

3. A missionary got sick and had to go to
the hospital, then he learned that he would have to go straight to Manila then
go home so he gave us a big list and we had to drive way out to his

Biggest news of this week..... It's really,
truly... RAINY SEASON! Woohoo! Can I tell you how good it feels to
not feel incredibly hot while going to sleep? It's... Amazing.
Absolutely, amazing. Yes.

Right. So this week was transfer week.
Old guys leave, new ones come in, we eat a bunch of good food, spend some
time at the mission home, see everyone at the transfer points, etc. Lots
of people reminded me that for some of them, it was the last time that I would
see them. Others, I'll still see at some random things.

The feeling on fire part. Right. The
couple who oversees family history work in the whole Philippines came to visit
to do two cluster conventions. We picked them up on Friday and drove them
around a little bit from Friday, Saturday and took them back to the airport on
Sunday. We went to the convention here in Legazpi combined with a few
other districts (smaller version of a stake) and they talked about family
history work. Basically, there's the whole push for "Hastening the
Work" on this side, but what about the work in the Spirit World?
It's really progressing there. And it's up to us to help them. So!
We've had a missionary sick staying with us, so we've been switching off
with the office elders on having some one stay with him so the others can go
work in there area, I was the one to stay with him after the convention so I
got online and did some family history work! It's more important and
uplifting than I'm describing it. In short, I've finally starting to
catch the Spirit of Elijah.

Love you!

Elder Shane Brown

Max and Shane

8. The Couple Missionaries we were with (the two older ones next to us)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister, Shelby! And
HAPPY FATHERS' DAY to my dad! They are my greatest sister and dad.
No doubt. By default. And by being the best.

This week Elder Madsen goes home! ...Wow! We've
been companions for 6 months now. Do you realize how long that is?
...Half a year! That like, never happens. Usually
three months is the max. We doubled it. And it was so great.
Just imagine, every great experience I've written about since
last December has been with Elder Madsen. So yes, it'll be weird to drop
him off at the airport on Wednesday. And as soon as he walks into the
airport terminal, the new arriving missionaries walk out - life presses on.

Highlights of the week... 1) We had a special
stake conference where it was normal Saturday sessions but then on Sunday the
stake president was the first to speak, and after him we tuned into a broadcast
for about half the Philippines. Vern was there so this was great because
it was general authorities including Elder Cook (apostle) speaking in English.
Elder Teh (Filipino, used to be Area President here) talked about the
conversion of a homeless guy so that was good with Vern. He said to a
member of the stake presidency after the conference "I'm on my way to your
baptism!" Just not sure when that'll be... 2) At stake
conference, I got to see a bunch of members from Pilar! I was there last
year from June-July (seems like yesterday). They are in Legazpi stake as
well. 3) I'm giving my all and loving it all the way. I'm
really, really happy.

Love you!

Elder Shane Brown

Pictures -

Yes, the guys on the motorcycle are carrying a
pig. Happens all the time.

What a happy week! Went to Catanduanes (one of the
islands) had exchanges with Elder Moncur, taught Ed finally and more progress
with Vern! It’s a little longer this week but each one of those points
has a good story – read it! It’s a wonderful life. Also, we went to
a really cool cave for zone activity this morning (see pictures) then this
afternoon we went to the apartment to change/shower and when we got out we were
all ready and excited to email, but much to our chagrin, we had a flat tire!
Luckily it was in the same place where we had to fix one a few months ago
so we were able to do it super quick.

So, Catanduanes. Remember (I assume not, so here I
am, explaining it) how when I first got to Tabaco in July (wow! That was
almost a year ago) that I got to go to Catanduanes once a transfer for
exchanges and things until it became its own zone so we didn’t go
anymore? Well now, since I’ve been here I’ve been able to go back a few
times, but just to the city mostly. This week though, we got to go on
exchanges in one of the areas I haven’t been to since September maybe.
It’s just this super super small little community. We went with President
because he was giving a workshop and we went on exchanges with the Elders
there. It’s a really small branch, and the Elders are the Branch
President and Branch Clerk so it was good to visit them. After the
workshop, we all drove out in President’s van to a faraway community even
further away from the city (small). In missionary work here, we really
try to stay close to centers of strength, but President felt to go visit this
place that has probably never seen a missionary before. As we drove
through the little town, we could feel a peaceful Spirit. All the doors
were open and it was as if the people were just begging to have missionaries.
After looking around, we began to drive back to the city, but just as we got to
the outskirts of the area, President stopped the car and asked Elder Madsen to
offer a prayer and ask for a blessing on the missionary work in this area
(Manambrag). We all had a Spirit of peace come over us. It was an
amazing experience. Probably a tiny taste of what apostles felt before
when they would go out and dedicate a land for missionary work. And the
last thing I’ll say about this is I was again reminded why I’m happy that I get
to visit the islands, but secretly glad that I was never assigned on them – the
whole time we were there, the Elders’ apartment had no water, and we only had
electricity for a few hours of the two days that we were there. ....hot.

Exchanges with Elder Moncur on Saturday. Another
great day. I worked with Elder Moncur in the morning, then after lunch
and studies, we switched companions so it was me, Elder Yu (my comp) and Elder
Quinto (Elder Moncur’s comp) in the afternoon (remember, we're a trisome so
Elder Madsen was with Elder Moncur in the afternoon). Elder Moncur and I
went out to this super beautiful far out place. Incredibly pretty (see
pictures). And of course, it’s always fun to talk about things from home
since of course he’s from our old stake. We had a great time together (:
My favorite part though of the exchanges was a lesson we taught in the
afternoon. We taught this 22 year old who’s mom is active, but he is
married and is not a member. We were actually the first ones to teach him
and as we taught, we felt impressed to teach him about the Gospel of Christ and
really emphasize baptism and how it will bless his family. We invited him
to be baptized and he, of course, said yes. We talked a bit more then
invited him to be baptized on the 26th of July. Maybe a bit
taken aback that we gave him a specific date, he sat there pondering. For
maybe 30 seconds (a long time in a lesson!) we were silent and I was praying he
would feel the Spirit prompting him to say yes. All of a sudden I felt
confirmed that he was feeling the Spirit and he just blurted out, “Okay.
I will do everything for my family.” We were overwhelmed with joy for the
whole evening after that.

Other points worth mentioning are.. we finally taught
Ed! I’ve never said anything about him because well… we’ve never taught
him until last night but basically he’s this guy we tracted forever ago and
he’s really cool but for one reason or another we were never able to teach
until last night when we sat down with his family and taught them. He was
good work friends with a previous Bishop in the Legazpi Ward and he is also the
owner of the Elders’ apartment in the city we live in so hah we called them and
said they better be the best ever so it goes well with teaching Ed. Also,
Vern came to church so that’s going well.

I’m really happy right now. I’m making the most of my
remaining time. I just want everyone to know how much I love this work
and how much it’s changed me. And when people say things like this in
their big emails to everyone, it’s really easy to just start skimming over it
and not take in what’s being said, but I want everyone to know how much this
work has changed me. I really am a different person. Not just in
the sense that I’ve been away for two years and will come back slightly awkward
no doubt, but I’ve really, truly been changed. And will continue to
be. I love God so much, and that’s not something I prioritized too much
before in life. But I do now.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

What a week! …wow! We survived. It
reminds me of when Elder Madsen and I finished our first training
together and we threw our hands in the air and ecstatically yelled, “We did
it!” After which, President leaned over and mentioned, “Said Dora.”
Remember when Dora the Explora reaches the big blue mountain or wherever she’s
trying to get to and says, “We did it!”? Last week we had conferences
from Tuesday-Friday and we had to get into the office super early on
Saturday. So much random stuff came up. I’ll have lots of stories
for you to tell one day. It was the busiest, most trying week I’ve had on
my mission. And at the end, we were left saying… We did it!

Do you remember my third companion, Elder Simmons? He
was my companion just before I got transferred to the Legazpi Mission
boundaries. Meaning, he got left in the Naga mission when our mission
split last July and I haven’t seen him since then. He became an office
elder (finance, same thing Trevor did) though, so I get to talk to him on the
phone sometimes which is always super fun. Anyways, on Thursday, a group
of Naga missionaries had to come down to the regional department of foreign
affairs in Legazpi. Guess who was driving them… Elder Simmons! I
was so excited to see him. Only problem was… We were doing one of those
conferences in a different city so I didn’t get to see him! ;( That would have
been a great reunitement. Ever since Elder Madsen and I have been
companions (almost 6 months now!) we’ve been trying to find an excuse to drive
to Naga so we could stop by our old areas along the way (the areas in Naga
Mission that we can’t go back to). The other night, we were with a group
of missionaries and only a few of us were assigned in Naga Mission, we started
PROUDLY singing the Naga Mission Theme song. Loved that. It’s crazy
how much progress there has been. It’s a great feeling to find success in
your previous efforts. Baao, the group I was assigned in at the beginning
of last year, went from averaging 20-30 people at church to now being its own
branch with 100 people attending! Comun, the group that was my last area,
has grown so much as well and is getting a meeting house built for them.
And I’ve been told so many times that people I used to teach, or even just
tracted are getting baptized. What a good feeling! It’s something
that you don’t expect, because when you leave you didn’t know what would
happen, but in the end, your effort really wasn’t wasted (even if it takes a
year to happen – which it has so many times). How great.

In other news, there was a brown out every day this week in
Daraga (where we live, in Legazpi they were supposed to not have power for two
weeks in certain parts because something broke and it had to come from
Japan). Luckily they were shorter ones. We made a “fan train” in
our apartment to get better ventilation in the “kiln” (our room) from the other
elders’ room with a door and window to let the breeze come in that side of the
house. We just set up four fans in a line to push the air through.
See pictures.

I sure love you! It’s been a great week.

Love, Elder Shane Brown

Pictures -

1. Elders locked the key in the car... Had to
call some random tatay to rescue them.

...BROWN OUT(s). Remember brown outs?
(power outage?). This week we were pleagued by them. Usually
during the day and not too bad. However... One night, we were all ready
to go to sleep. Just about to climb into bed. Then… brown
out. No lights. No ref. Worse so…. NO ELECTRIC FANS!
It’s hot enough sleeping in the kiln with them… I didn’t even try to get into
bed without. The thought of lying in bed without one was so utterly
repulsive, yet I was SO tired, that I ended going out to the balcony and
sleeping on a hammock. I survived there for an hour until I woke up from
sleeping in such a contorted position and pulled a mattress out downstairs
where it was a little cooler. Still desperately tired, I tried to sleep
through the thick humidity. I did. 20 minutes later, I woke up from
a “BOOM!” Not a fireworks or baby boom, but a boom from every light and
electric fan in the house turning back on. It felt so, so good to climb
into bed with a frisky hot-air breeze blowing down on me (after turning all the
lights off…). Oh, another affect of summer is that we have no water from
7:30am until night time. That makes for some fun experiences.

Well there’s my exciting story for the week. In other
news, we taught 14 lessons in the first day and a half of the week. It
was all set up to be our week to hit the standards. Theeeeen we had to
drive everywhere back and forth, people decided to get sick or accidented and
go to hospitals, or we got to pick from a whole host of other things to
do. Standards week was, yet again, shot. It’s pretty crazy that
Elder Madsen goes home in three weeks. Since it’s been so long, I’ll
remind you that I was with two companions before they went home. But
then, it wasn’t so weird because I still had so long out. Now though,
it’s like, once Elder Madsen leaves, I’m next. I feel like
italicizing that expresses the shudders going down my spine every time I think
about that (not unhealthily too often). But rest assured, nothing is
motivating me more to give it all than the ever-ticking clock. Time is
merciless. No matter what we do, time marches on. And I’m making
the most of it! Joshua was baptized yesterday! - Another step towards
completing their family. He has an aunt who just came to live with them
and was able to go to the baptisim, we’re being blessed by our diligence!

Love you!

Elder Shane Brown

​Pictures -

1-8. A nice photo shoot. This would
have been a lot prettier if Mayon (the big volcano) wasn't covered in clouds,
but still, you get the essence of it.

9. ​Ended up driving up north and brought
all the missionaries' packages. Got to stop by Elder Moncur's apartment
on the way home - in n out hats!

10. Joshua's baptisim!

11. LOOK AT THE SUN! (as we stared
in awe at this, we felt like the little green aliens in toy story saying,
"The claaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwww")

Skype was so great last week! The best
call of them all. But that being said of course, I think it's taken me
this long to finally get out of the bubble and realize that I'm still in the
Philippines. It's been a great week though! Well, two weeks worth
of updates here since I no email last week.

My birthday was great! Now that I'm 21, I
can do so much more. Thanks for all the birthday wishes! We had quite a
few adventures in the last two weeks. My companion realized that he's
going home in four weeks so we went on a picture taking spree on all of our
drives plus last pday.

Last week, a BYU student and three Filipina
nurses came to our mission to do some screening for malnurished children.
We got to drive them around a little bit, that was fun. I told the
BYU kid, "See you in the Fall." Wow. Also, we went to the
mall and there were a bunch of US troops doing an event promoting the army
being here and helping to build schools/ train the Philippines army. We
talked to them for a few minutes. They had a really cool art gallery for
it (see pictures).

Everything is going great with Vern! He
came to church yesterday which is his fourth time! We hope he's getting
close to baptism. Yesterday he was telling us about a house for sale that
he saw which he'll probably never be able to buy and he said if he doesn't get
that house then he'll have to become a Mormon, so he's improving!
Remember how he had no money before? Well now he's making 150 pesos
a day or also $4 which is great for him. On his way home from church
yesterday, he said that he knew the jeepney driver so he got a free ride home.
Doesn't he see how much he's being blessed when visiting with us and
coming to church?! Hopefully it's starting to click. Oh, we are in
a trisome now. Since Elder Madsen goes home next transfer, we got to have
his replacement come in early so he's here for two transfers before I leave.
We've had lots of fun and hard work! We are so busy these days.
It's just tuloy-tuloy this transfer

Okay that's it for my thrilling updates this
week. Hope the pictures are a bit less rote ;) Love you!

"May the Fourth (force) be with you",
Cinco de Mayo, and Mothers' Day are all great holidays. But the more
exciting bit for me this week is the 7th... I'm turning 21! Happy
Birthday Elder Brown!

So, I'm not 21 yet, but it's close! How do
I feel? As with every birthday ever, I feel the same. And I'll be
doing the normal thing for my birthday. Actually, we're going to celebrate
later today because Wednesday is when we send home the old missionaries, get
the new ones from the airport and train 'em all day. In the Philippines,
birthday tradition is that you free everyone lunch of cake or whatever, quite
the opposite of America! But that's how it goes. I like it better
(: So anyways, I feel the same, yet at the same time, I know I really
have come along way. Remember two years ago when I had just finished
freshman year at college and was only dreaming of being in the Philippines?
Then for the entire 21st year of my life, I was here! This year
will be a little different since only a few months of my 22nd year will be
spent in the place I love so much. All is well though, the best is yet to
come.

I'm doing super great! Vern didn't come to
church, but it sure made me think a lot about what would have been different
were he there/ what I've learned since being with him. One of the things
I really had to change was the way I sang hymns. I always have sung hymns
with "gusto", but being with Vern really makes you pay attention to
what you're singing because you're wondering what he'll have to say about
certain lines coming up in the hymn, etc. And I like that, the paying
more attention to what we're actually singing. It makes it a lot more
powerful.

We have transfers this week. Will be a big
game changer. Tune in next week for more updates. Love you!

Elder Shane Brown

Pictures -

1. Volleyball - we've got HOPS!

2. An Elder went to Manila... brought us
back Krispy Kremes!

3. Us walking through the city. On
the left you see how much the rich defend their homes with barbed wire, high
fences, etc.

4. Love this tire cover. Reminds me
of my tea kwon do teacher from when I was a kid - "YOUUUUU CAAAAAN DOOOO
IIIIIIIIT!!!!"

So much to tell you this week! (I’m trying to think
of some not-so cliché ways to start off
these emails. I feel like I wasn't too successful with that
one). President was gone the entire week for Mission Presidents’ Seminar
in Manila, so SUPPOSED to be, this was our week to conquer the world (teach a
lot) since we would have nothing to do in the office but that didn't exactly
happen. Apparently, when President is out of town, that’s when Satan
likes to strike. SOOOOOOOO much happened. Every day was a new
adventure… Every day.

Still, I have some good stories for you! A little
more than a month ago, we were closing up at the office on a pouring rain
night. All of a sudden, this lady shows up, knocking at the door.
This was slightly creepy since it was 9pm and the city dies here around 8pm,
not to mention the down pour. To slash the long story – she was crippled
(from birth I think, hand a deformed right arm) and got kicked out of her
Aunt’s house in the northern part of the Philippines. She planned on
going to stay with her kid (long story) in the southern islands but had no
money and thought that even though she had been inactive for years, she would
try and come ask for help since she saw the church after the truck she was
hitching a ride on dropped her off near it. We called the bishop and he
came over and verified her story, making sure she wasn’t scamming us and took
her to a hostel (cheap place to stay for a night) and gave her money to get to
where she was going. And after that, we never heard anything about
it… Bishop updated us on the situation last week and said that the lady
contacted him from her kid’s place saying how grateful she was and that she’s
now active in the church down there. She is so grateful that we were
instruments in the Lord’s hands to help her. So what started as a
some-what weird experience for us, turned out to be another spiritual witness
that God really does love all his children.

Yet again, Vern came to church! Woohoo! And it
was even better than last week! He walks in and says that while he was
reading the Book of Mormon that morning, he has this distinct thought come to
him that he needs to make sure this is the true church, and that when he
decides to join, he has to join with all his heart and not go back. He
always says it’s “going to be difficult to change religions”. Also, he
always shares things about the Catholic beliefs with us to compare and so we
can answer his questions. At church, he said that he doesn’t share those
things to convert us, but to show us how hard it’s going to be for him to leave
these things. …is it not so obvious that he will one day be
baptized?! It’s such a miracle. And not only his progression in the
church, but we are not at all surprised that his temporal situation is
improving as well! Tomorrow he starts teaching English, he’ll be making
100 pesos a day ($2.50, can you believe, that’s a lot for him!). I love
Vern so much. I feel so blessed to be here at this time. I feel so
incompetent and undeserving, nonetheless, I’m so, so happy to be able to
participate at a time like this (:

By the way, it's hot again. It feels like I sleep in
a kiln every night. An electric fan only goes so far.

Love you!

Elder Shane Brown

Pictures -

1. Had a new elder come in this week (transfers are
still next week pa)